I got mugged one night last month. Along a leafy Islington street of Victorian townhouses, two teenagers with a knife relieved me of my bag and its contents: a laptop, a mobile and a half-eaten bag of Walkers Thai Sweet Chilli crisps.

Smarting from the ignominy of being taken by lads little older than my son, I've been replaying in my mind ever since what a braver Ian Wylie might have done to those thieves.

But news just in ... most of us are on the nick. Politicians regularly claim that most crime is committed by a hard core of low-income offenders. But a report published this week reveals that 61% of us admit to having committed a crime - from paying in cash to avoid tax to half-inching something from work. (The researchers didn't ask respondents if they download music or copied software illegally - if so, the figure would surely have been higher.)

The report's authors, Professor Susanne Karstedt and Dr Stephen Farrall of Keele University, conclude that there is no "law-abiding majority". We are a "seething mass of morally dubious, and outright criminal, behaviour".

Many crimes are committed by those who are better educated and in well-paid employment, say the academics, and white-collar crime is now on course to outstrip the cost to the nation of offences such as burglary.

Ever told a fib on your CV? Exaggerated your contribution to a project? Used an employer's resources to do some work on the side?

I'm not quite ready to forgive the little - what was the word the police officer used to describe them - "scrotes" who mugged me. And I don't want to minimise the heinous nature of violent crime. But aside from a sharp piece of metal, I'm wondering what separates their crime from those that you and I commit to get ahead.

Thinking about it, there are plenty of traits shared by successful criminals and those who win in business. A willingness to take risks and a lack of fear. Persistence, staying power. Having the right connections and knowing how to supply your market. You have to be prepared for the unexpected, self-motivated and self-determined. Take London mayor hopeful John Bird. Jailed several times during his early years, Bird determined to "go straight" and put his entrepreneurial spirit to better use by launching the Big Issue.

Consider too the behaviour of the organisations that employ us. Leading criminologists known as the Fijnaut Group define organised crime as "a group or network of people which is primarily focused on illegally obtained profits and in a systematic way commits serious crimes with great societal consequences". It would be difficult to exclude the tax evasion, deception, bribery and corruption perpetrated by some British companies. There is little difference between organised crime and crime by organisations.

Corporate crime can be violent too. The FBI estimates that 16,000 Americans are murdered every year. In comparison, on average 56,000 Americans die every year on the job or from occupational diseases. Tens of thousands more fall victim to the pollution, contaminated foods and hazardous consumer products that result from corporate recklessness or carelessness.

So what determines which side of these fine lines we're on? It comes down the choices we make: go for instant gratification, or opt for the long, hard graft and time that it will take to reach our goals responsibly. Choose the employer that pays the biggest salary, or the one that is socially and environmentally responsible.

Management guru Peter Drucker used to say that we rarely get to choose between right and wrong. "It is at best a choice between "almost right" and "probably wrong" - a bit like the slow, painful punishment I'd choose for my muggers if they're ever caught.